Woodfuel for urban centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The number one energy and forest product returns to the policy agenda

This briefing note presents the results of a vulnerability assessment conducted between 2011 and 2012 in the Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, specifically focusing on Atom village in Equatorial Guinea. The study, part of the COBAM project, examines how climate-related disturbances, socio-economic shifts toward an oil economy, and forest degradation affect local livelihoods and food security.

• The Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, spanning 26,747 km2 across Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, is dominated by industrial logging concessions which occupy 65% of the available land, although oil reserves discovered in 1996 have since shifted investor interest away from timber.
• Local populations in Atom village have observed significant ecological and socio-economic declines since the 1970s, including forest cover loss and population decrease due to migratory outflows, which have resulted in farm labour shortages and the abandonment of traditional cocoa plantations.
• Climate-related disturbances, specifically unpredictable rainfall patterns, increased temperatures, and torrential rains, have disrupted traditional production calendars and reduced agricultural yields, thereby threatening food security.
• Vulnerability is differentiated by social group; female-headed households and households lacking active young people due to urban migration are the most vulnerable because they lack the labour required to perform farming activities on time.
• The local agricultural system relies on two rainy seasons, Oyon and Esseb, utilizing different field types: young fallows for crops like groundnuts and cassava (harvested twice yearly), and 'forest fields' in mature or secondary forests for pumpkins and sugarcane (harvested once yearly during Esseb).
• Local adaptive capacity is limited by the degradation of forest resources and a lack of formal community forest management institutions, leaving subsistence agriculture as the primary but fragile livelihood.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (n.d.). Woodfuel for urban centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The number one energy and forest product returns to the policy agenda. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Woodfuel for urban centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The number one energy and forest product returns to the policy agenda. n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Woodfuel for urban centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The number one energy and forest product returns to the policy agenda |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitutendwoodfuel, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Woodfuel for urban centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The number one energy and forest product returns to the policy agenda}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }